When Steve Boland of St. Paul heard that Target was offering $200 gift cards for older iPads, he jumped at the chance. His wife, Elen Bahr, was using a first-generation Apple tablet, and she had talked about upgrading if the price was right.
Boland thought he’d breeze in to the Target nearest his house, hand over the old iPad, claim his card, apply its value to the purchase of a shiny new iPad Air and walk back out.
As if.
As Boland and other Target customers have found, securing one of those $200 gift cards is not always that easy. The offer, which was announced Nov. 3 and runs through store closings Saturday, has created all manner of difficulties for some Target visitors.
This includes lengthy lines, limited or nonexistent staffing, gift card shortages and shortages of the current model iPads many want to buy with their card credits — though the cards can be used for any Target purchase.
The snags might have much to do with this: The promotion has been a huge hit. Minneapolis-based Target on Thursday said that the activity spawned by the promotion has exponentially exceeded typical device-trade-in traffic at its stores. This has led to occasional shortages.
“The response to the iPad trade-in promotion has been overwhelmingly positive and far exceeded Target’s expectations,” spokeswoman Katie Boylan said.
“We are not placing any limits on the promotion,” she added. “In fact, we’re working to replenish the number of electronics trade-in gift cards available in our stores.”
The promotion will not, however, be extended beyond Saturday, she added.
In his quest for a gift card, Boland found himself on a multistore odyssey.
After striking out at the St. Paul Midway store, he tried his luck at the Woodbury store but found the iPads there had been reserved by online customers.
An Apple Valley store had plenty of gift cards but no tablets. A second Apple Valley store had iPads in stock but no gift cards.
Boland wound up getting the gift card at the first Apple Valley store and taking it to the second store, where he had an iPad Air reserved.
“Finally, the odyssey is complete, and I can get on with my life,” Boland said upon emerging from the second store. “This absolutely reinforces for me the (advantage) of shopping online.”
That wasn’t possible in this case. The tablet-for-card swaps could occur only at physical Target stores, and these had to be locations with “mobile” departments where customers buy and activate smartphones and other devices with cellular service.
This created bottlenecks.
At a Target on Robert Street in West St. Paul this week, a lengthy queue of increasingly impatient customers was at the mobile counter, where harried workers tried to resolve technical snafus and sought to replenish their exhausted gift-card supply. Two other Twin Cities stores had no workers at the mobile booths.
This is a recurring problem, according to customers. According to Target, the workers at the mobile counters have special training and are the only ones who can handle the iPad trade-in transactions. So, when these folks are on break or haven’t clocked in yet, no one else at the store can step in.
One customer said he was given inaccurate information, too.
“I tried to take advantage of this at the Target in Midway but was told I had to buy a new iPad on the spot.” said Peter Clark of St. Paul. “There were several other people in line, and they pretty much wandered away as the Target mobile staffer said this.”
Later, “I called the Target near Har Mar (in Roseville), and was told I’d get a $200 gift card good for anything Target sells, not just a new iPad,” Clark said. “I went up to Har Mar, traded in my iPad and got the $200 gift card.”
The latter scenario is the accurate one, said Boylan, the Target spokeswoman.
“If you want to buy $200 worth of bananas, great,” she said. “If you want to shop for toys for the holiday season, great.
“If you want to get a a new iPad, great. It’s completely up to you,” Boylan said
Not all Target visitors reported problems. From Seattle to Orlando, Fla., Huntington Beach, Calif. to East Glenville, N.Y., Target shoppers said they were able to turn in their tablets and get their gift cards with little or no trouble.
Kate Bruner of Orlando encountered a line and had to wait about 30 minutes, but said “It all went smoothly.
Saint Paul Pioneer Press (MN)
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